A couple of years ago, in a decluttering fever prior to putting our apartment up for sale, I threw out our old, discolored but functional tea kettle and bought a pretty little silver gooseneck pot to replace it. The new pot looked very attractive on our stovetop, but it only held enough water to make one cup of tea or coffee; when filled with any more than 8 ounces or so, the water would spill out of the lovely curved spout once it came to a boil, making puddles on the stove and potentially scalding any passersby.

This might not have been a problem if we didn't use a kettle often, but I drink 2-3 cups of tea a day, and my husband makes himself a cup of pour-over coffee every morning. With this new kettle, if both of us wanted to start our day with a hot beverage, we'd have to boil the water for each caffeinated drink separately, one after the other. And sometimes while pouring the boiling water, the kettle's lid would fall off, requiring us to be hyper-vigilant about hand placement. It wasn't ideal.

(Could we have just gotten an electric kettle? Sure, but who has the counter space?)

Such is the power of inertia that we continued to use that utterly inconvenient, tiny little gooseneck teapot for two years. So it's not hyperbolic to suggest that when we finally did get a new kettle, the OXO Good Grips Anniversary Edition Uplift Tea Kettle, it was nothing short of life-changing.

Not only is this tea kettle totally normal-sized, but it sports cork handles on the spout and lid. The cork coverings protect your hands from the heat (seriously, you don't even need to use a pot holder unless the water has been boiling for a while), and make the kettle look really cool and sleek, sort of like art for your stove. It's also very easy to use (this is, surprisingly, not a given when it comes to tea kettles); when you lift the kettle, the spout opens automatically—no squeezing necessary.

The whistle on this tea kettle is also a plus: it's loud enough to hear when you're in the next room, but doesn't have that piercing, air raid quality that other kettles do. Most importantly, it holds 2 quarts of water, which means you can boil enough water for at least four people (imagine!) to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee at one time.

At $79, the OXO kettle is definitely not cheap. But the ability to pour boiling water without burning oneself—and from such an aesthetically pleasing, Instagram-ready vessel—feels well worth it.